CAS SO 100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Feral Child, Human Nature, Sleeping Bag
25 Nov 2016
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Document Summary
The nature vs. nurture debate explores the relative importance of cultural (social environment) and biological (heredity) factors in the developmental process of human beings. In all likelihood the answer to this question is a complex interaction between the two. Few would reject the position that biology plays an important role. Biology provides us with large brains that allow us to think abstractly (e. g. , we can create things in our minds and build them in reality). Biology also provides us with opposable thumbs that allows us to grasp tools. Learning is also very important in determining who we are. The chapter on culture points out that culture defines much of what is important to people. Further, it is responsible for our ability to adapt to the environment: twining studies. It is often difficult to separate learning from our biology because we begin learning at the moment we are born.
